Dignity and defiance as jailed Marine’s appeal is launched
Their correspondence usually arrives in a prison envelope or a solicitor’s letter – since most of their customers are in jail. So yesterday’s afternoon post was a little out of the ordinary at the Birmingham headquarters of the Criminal Cases review Commission (CCrC).
Along came a hand-delivered letter, accompanied by bundles of documents, a military standard and several television crews while an escort party of 500 carol- singing ex-members of the Armed Forces gathered just around the corner supported by a brass band, a gang of bikers and a cardboard cut-out of the main man.
There, too, in direct defiance of military orders, was a scattering of serving Forces personnel willing to risk unspecified punishment simply for being there.
The battle for justice for Sergeant Alexander Blackman of the royal Marines – jailed in 2013 for the murder of a mortally wounded Taliban gunman – continues to stand out as one of the most striking legal campaigns of recent times.
Take, for example, the £804,000 donated by Mail readers in a matter of weeks, enabling his family to hire a top legal team to challenge his conviction. it is a verdict which seems increasingly flawed by the day, in equal measure to the growing public outrage that a brave man goaded beyond endurance by a ruthless enemy should be treated as a common killer.
And among serving members of the Forces, there is deep anger – both at the conviction and at the fact they are banned from doing or saying anything about it.
Then there was October’s unprecedented gathering of supporters outside the houses of Parliament. Protests are nothing new at Westminster, of course. But no one could recall one at which everyone seemed to wear a blazer and tie, sing the National Anthem and keep on the pavement to spare the traffic.
The military top brass had been so alarmed at the prospect of serving personnel turning up that standing orders were issued to stay away.
AFeW came along regardless on that occasion. And it was the same in Birmingham yesterday as another rally was staged to mark the next chapter of this sorry story.
‘i’ve been dodging the cameras all day but i wanted to be here,’ said ‘Chris’, a royal Marine of ten years’ standing, as he enjoyed a furtive pint – in plain clothes – outside the Woodman pub. The Ministry of Defence had once again forbidden all personnel from taking part.
So what did Chris’s comrades feel about the ban? ‘The guys are seething,’ he replied. ‘it’s like we don’t have freedom of speech.’
having served in Afghanistan, too, he was well aware of the pressures on Sgt Blackman that fateful day in 2011 when he snapped and shot a wounded insurgent already dying from a British helicopter attack. ‘The Taliban don’t play by our rules and this guy was carrying grenades meant for our lads.’
Cue nods of agreement from fellow drinkers. ‘Sometimes you just don’t make the right decision,’ said David Pettifer, 37, a Brummie ex-royal Marines corporal. ‘i defy anyone, especially the politicians, to make the right decision all the time.’
Yesterday’s get-together had been organised to mark the formal application for Sgt Blackman’s case to be referred back to the Court of Appeal. his legal team, led by Jonathan Goldberg QC, had spent months preparing an exhaustive report to support the application. There was so much of it that it required seven ring binders and a suitcase to carry it to the offices of the CCrC. There, it was handed in by Sgt Blackman’s family and two veterans.
‘i finally feel we’re getting somewhere. Wheels are in motion,’ said his mother, Frances Blackman, 76. it was on her birthday, two years ago, that she learned her son had received a life sentence for murder. ‘it just came on the radio – and it broke my heart.’
Former royal Marines had been arriving all morning from across the country to support Sgt Blackman. in among the blazers, there were several richly embroidered waistcoats and leather jackets. Several members of the royal British Legion’s riders Branch were on parade. ‘Normally, these royal Marines
would be mocking me for being exRAF,’ said former RAF electronics engineer Mike Edwards, 55, who had ridden up from Gloucestershire on his Suzuki 1250. ‘But we’re all the same today.’
A growling cavalcade of motorbikes suddenly rode on to the concrete plaza next to Birmingham’s Eastside Park. Many riders were civilian supporters who had never been in the Forces. Mick Sheargold, a scaffold manager from Surrey, arrived on a huge Harley-Dav- idson followed by Kevin Fox, 54, unemployed, who had come from Coventry on a tiny Lambretta scooter. ‘I wasn’t in the Forces but I am very grateful to people like Alex who give their tomorrows for our today,’ said Kevin. ‘That man should be at home with his family for Christmas.’
An important feature of yesterday’s event was the large number of officers present. There had been some fierce criticism of the lack of officers at the Westminster rally.‘We had no idea it was happening so we have all made an effort to be here today,’ said Lieutenant Colonel Alastair Grant, 71, from London.
‘I have no qualms about the fact that Sgt Blackman went to jail because what he did was wrong,’ said ‘Rod’, 68, another retired lieutenant colonel and Falklands veteran, who would not give his surname. ‘But he should not have received a life sentence. He was on his sixth tour and had already had more operational contact with the enemy than a soldier in World War II. In those days, you might be away from home for three years. But you weren’t under fire every single day like he was.’
When the speeches got under way, two hefty ex-Marines appeared holding a life- size cut- out of Sgt Blackman in action. The first of several ‘three- cheers’ rang out, along with an ‘oggy, oggy oggy…’.
Repeated mention was made of the heroic determination of his wife, Claire, a Devon-based NHS marketing manager. ‘The brotherhood of the Royal Marines is right behind you, Claire. You’re a brave and beautiful woman,’ declared Jeff Williams, a burly ex-warrant officer, doing the introductions. ‘She really does deserve the greatest accolade,’ declared Lt- Col Ewen Southby-Tailyour, as he reeled off a long list of generals who had expressed support for this campaign. One of them – Major General Malcolm Hunt – was among the speakers.
There was warm applause for the legal team, for the author, Freddie Forsyth, who kicked off this campaign (and who was watching from the wings) – and for the readers of the Daily Mail. Standing before them all, Mrs Blackman kept her composure magnificently.
She said: ‘I just want Al home where he belongs, and today feels like a momentous step towards getting him freed.
‘It has been completely overwhelming to have so many people here supporting us – many who I have met for the first time today. They help carry us forward.
‘It is a day we have all worked so hard for, and now we just have to sit tight and cross our fingers and pray for the right result.
‘We really couldn’t have got this far without the amazing help of Daily Mail readers.’
Afterwards, she explained she would be recounting every moment of the day to her husband when she next visits his Wiltshire prison on Christmas Eve. Not that he can be in any doubt about the popular support for his campaign.
‘I get four big Jiffy bags full of Christmas cards for him every day at the moment,’ Claire added happily.
Come next Christmas, let’s hope he can open them himself.